Grenache Blanc

Grenache Blanc is the white-berried mutation of the red grape Grenache and one of the most important white varieties of the Southern Rhône and the wider Mediterranean. It makes full-bodied, generous, comparatively low-acid wines with ripe pear, green apple and fennel-like anise notes over soft white flowers and a faint herbal, resinous edge. Rarely the loudest grape in the room, it is a supremely useful blender: it lends weight, alcohol and a broad, rounded texture to the white wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Roussillon and Languedoc, tempering the racier Clairette, Roussanne and Bourboulenc it is bottled beside. Increasingly it also stands alone as a rich, textural varietal white — a warm, fleshy, sun-drenched foil to the crisper whites of cooler climates.